In our practicals, we had to make the Gateau Basque, a marzipan rose and leaves, and at least five marzipan animals (choices: duck, mouse, elephant, frog, cat, rabbit).
The Gateau Basque was not all that hard to make. We basically make a "cake dough" (well, it is like a dough/paste, but softer) from butter, eggs, sugar, lemon zest, flour and baking powder. We then pipe the "cake dough" into a genoise mold to form a shell -- first in a spiral to cover the bottom of the mold, then in rings around the side of the mold to build up the shell. Next, we pipe the special pastry cream (which has almond powder and rum) into the shell, followed by cherries and more pastry cream. Then we pipe the "cake dough" on top to cover the whole thing. After that, we use our spatula to smooth out the top, brush on coffee egg wash, score a pattern with our fork, and bake for 35 minutes.
The whole thing looks like a pie. Instead of pie shell and lid, we have the "cake dough". The filling is the pastry cream and cherries. When baked, the Gateau Basque tastes like a pound cake with pastry cream and cherries inside. Chef H told us the cherries are optional -- the cake actually tastes quite nice without them (i.e. with just the pastry cream).
Below is my Gateau Basque:
In this photo, you can see the marzipan rose and leaves we had to make as a decoration. Chef T said my cake was fine. The texture and consistency were as they should be. I baked it at the right temperature for the right length of time. He did ask me to practise making marzipan roses, as mine had uneven petals and oversized centre petals. I have to agree my effort was mediocre. I know what roses should look like (since I have taken hundreds of photos of them), but it was not quite as easy to make marzipan roses.
The marzipan animals are not quite finished yet. We have made the basic shapes for the animals, and we still have to colour them on Thursday. I made a mouse, a cat, a frog and two ducks. Unfortunately, my mouse looks more like a pig, which is not on the list of animals Chef H made. :) I must practise making the mouse again.
I have a scheduled production kitchen shift tomorrow, meaning it is a compulsory shift and it starts at 8:15am. But I usually start my voluntary shifts at 6am anyway, so I will just stick to my routine. I wonder what it will be like to walk to School in the snow at 5:55am...
